Does anyone out there know more about the time table of the legislation now in progress in congress or senate or committee (wherever it is) regarding making it easier for private rockets to launch. Such as it is, I read you have to pay 200,000 to fly one rocket from white sands. And I believe another team paid 1.5 million for the opportunity to test their rockets there. That is a lot of money. With the legislation passed, the Mojave Airport civilian flight test center could be become an important hub in the new age of private flight tourism, commerce, and exploration. There was talk of passing legislation in time for Space Ship One's Sept. 29th launch but some technicalities brought up have tied down legislation.

"Legislation deemed by many to be crucial to the development of a successful commercial suborbital spaceflight industry is at a critical stage in the Senate. Though there is probably no real opposition to the bill, the session will be very short and it will be difficult to find time for it in a very crowded agenda. Public support will be a great help in raising its chances for passage.

"I've been informed by Charles Lurio that the Senate version of any bill "dealing with commercialization of private human spaceflight would not be the previously mentioned S2772 (the 'CHASE' bill introduced by Senator Inhofe) but instead it will be under the House Bill designation, HR3752 ("The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004").

"This is just an accounting measure, but if you contact Congressional staff to give your support for the legislation, you should refer to HR3752 to avoid any confusion.

"Note that any improvements that were incorporated into S2772 will likely be applied in HR3752 (a process known as creating a "perfected" version of the legislation.)..."